User blog:Bowdrie1999/The Rim: Part 3
The Black Dhalia raced through hyperspace, her engines humming softly, her lights dimmed. Most of the crew were in their bunks, dreaming of the money from their latest haul of uncut ryll spice. They were forging through relatively safe territory, free of reavers and the law and other threats, so the atmosphere was comparatively calm and relaxed. Captain Bainbridge rubbed his eyes and glanced at the instrument panel. Anna Malcom, the ship's quartermaster and helmswoman slept soundly in the copiot's chair where she nodded off, leaving the Captain to take his shift at the helm. The calm blue of hyperspace slipped silently past the bridge viewports, backlit by the low and reasurring hum of the ship's now well-tuned drives. Her captain ran a loving hand absentmindedly over her controls, his mind wandering back to memories. Mostly of the war, but a few more pleasant things. A red warning light beeping on the instrument panel snapped him back into reality. He checked the ship's location on the traverse board. They were still an hour out from Zirtraan's anchor. There was nothing in this area of space. Straightening his jacket, he tapped into the computer and read the diagnostic. The ship's scanning array came to life and went active, triangulating the exact position of the incursion He shook his sleeping quartermaster gently on the shoulder. "What do you make of that?" He gestured to the instrument panel. She puffed out a deep breath, coming to. "Looks like an automated distress beacon to me Captain. Activated just a few hours ago." Bainbridge stood up. "There's nothing in this part of space. Something's not right. We're dropping out to investigate, you've got the helm." "Are you sure that's such a good idea? Could be a trap." Anna muttered as she studied the display panels, as if they would give her the answers she was looking for. The captain nodded. "Could be. But I'm not going to leave it be. We may be pirates but we're not heartless. If someone out there needs help, it's our duty to help them." He took the comm off the mount on the bulkhead, clearing his throat. "This is the Captain, all crew to general quarters. We've picked up a distress beacon off of Narco Point and are interdicting to investigate. Stede, get an armed boarding party ready." He replaced the commlink and slipped his shoulder holsters back on, followed by his jacket. "Bring us out a couple lightminutes short. Let us get a sensor read before we knock on the door." Anna nodded an affirmative and set to her duties. Eli slipped past one of the gunnery teams as they jogged to the starboard upper dual cannon on his way to the armory. Stede was already there with 4 other men, getting into the armored short-duty space suits the crew used for boarding. He grabbed one of the blaster carbines from the rack and checked the magazine. "What's this about a distress beacon Captain?" The big kiffar's voice betrayed the fact that he was not happy about being roused from his bunk and ordered to general quarters. The captain loaded two pistols into his shoulder holsters and snapped them down. "Long range scanners picked up an emergency distress signal half a parsec away. Could be one of our own." The kiffar grunted an affirmative and shouldered his weapon. "Just hope it isn't a reaver attack." The captain shuddered in his space suit. He had witnessed the carnage reavers left behind in their wake, and it wasn't pretty. Once again back on the bridge, Bainbridge leaned over the display panel and read the readouts the long range scanners patched through. The barely discernable speck of a ship hung in the forward viewport. "She's a barloz-class transport. Unarmed by the look of it." He ran the registry number through the computer. "And completely legal and unarmed by the look of it. Our derelict friends most likely aren't smugglers or men on the account." Anna tapped through the sensor information. "Yes, unarmed, and no life forms aboard by the look of it. Her reactor core is on standby mode, just enough power for emergency life support." Eli sighed, content with enough information to no longer classify the mysterious ship as a threat. "Bring us in close, but keep the guns trained on her. I don't want any surprises." The derelict ship grew slowly in the viewport, materializing in detail. Her hull was pocked by heavy cannon marks, her sensor array and parts of hull plating floating in space. Whatever happened to this ship, it went out with a fight. It was venting atmosphere slightly in some places but appeared to be still pressurized. The attack must have been recent. The impact points of turbolaser fire still registered warmer than sorrounding space on the thermal sensors. The gentle bump and the following his indicated that docking the two ships was succesful. The captain slung his carbine over his shouler and turned to adress his men. "I want a clean and sweep of the whole ship in two-man teams. Be thorough. If you find anything still alive, give it a warning. If it's still coming, put one in the head and two in the chest, you know the drill. Stay together and stay in touch with me on the comm. Rendesvous as soon as your team is done. I want everyone locked and loaded." The armored docking door opened to reveal a dark hallway. The light's flickered on off as the men filed in, guns raised, and split off in their own directions. The Captain found a master switch and flipped the power back on. The lights powered up, lighting everything in very dim blue. Bainbridge proceeded up the ladder towards the bridge, his military training and reflexes on a knife edge. He passed the escape pods and found all of them still aboard and locked in the cruising storage position, all except one. Dark liquid covered the release lever. Thus far, it was the only sign of a struggle. the navigation station was completely empty, the screens powered down in standby position. "Aft portion of the ship is clear sir. Meeting up with team 4 and proceeding to the rendesvous point." A voice announced over the commlink. "Got it. Crew compartment is clear as well. On my way to you now." The captain radioed back. He took the hallway down to the cargo bay as the rest of the teams checked in, reporting clear. He and Stede both switched on their gun-mounted flashlights as they entered into the cavernous cargo area, descending the stairs, they swept the area. "Contact right, we got a body." The captain announced as he spotted a fallen crewmember. He jogged over. "Cover me and get our medic down here now." He ordered as he knelt beside the crumpled form. The young man's hands were tied, and he spotted the tell-tale entry wound of a high-powered blaster at the base of the crewman's spine. Shot execution style. No need to check a pulse. "Belay that, we don't need a medic." He said quietly through the radio. He rose to his feet and illuminated the area around him, seeing the bodies of at least a dozen other crewmembers. All were laying in the same position as the first crewman. "Zagao, wo di tian. Hundans." He cursed under his breath as he swept his flashlight over the bodies. Team 2 stepped through the bulkhead and stopped short, the medic stepping forward to examine the bodies. He found the same thing the captain did. "Wrap the bodies in their hammocks and put them in the airlock. I intend to give these poor men a proper burial in space." He grabbed Stede by the shoulder and turned back towards the bridge. "I need to check the ship's log. Reavers didn't do this, it's too clean." Stede nodded solemnly. "The cargo be gone Captain. Do you think...." He left the sentence unfinished, both mean realizing that what it might entail would be worse than reavers. Stede and Eli set to work examining the ship's logs, fast forwarding to the latest entry. It was half-finished. "Approached by mysterious ship. It appears to be a corvette of some kind. Maybe even law enforcement. Preparing to heave to and le-" the sentence ended abruptly. Bainbridge sat down in the command chair and rubbed his temples. "As much as I hate to say it Stede.... I'm thinking rogue pirates." Stede sighed and put a heavy fist down on the control board. "They rounded them up and slaughtered them, mon. These aren't rogues. These be monsters cap'n." Eli nodded thoughtfully, explaining how one escape pod was missing. "Maybe one of them got away. Maybe someone has a story to tell." He traced his finger absentmindedly over the blank readouts, when he was suddenly struck with an idea. "Stede come over here." He beckoned to his first mate. "All stock ships are hardlinked with their escape pods. When one makes the jump to lightspeed, it send an encoded burst signal with its jump coordinates back to the mothership, just for security measures. I'll bet we can find it if we dig hard enough." He unlimbered his gear bag and pulled out an extra hard drive he had brought for this purpose. "Dump all the computer data onto this. Registry numbers, nav data, crew rosters, everything. We'll sort it all out when we get back aboard the ''Dhalia." ''Stede set to work as the Captain went back down to the hold. The men had finished strapping the fallen crewmembers into their bunks with their personal effects. Passing by them, Eli felt a small pang of guilt for not knowing any words or prayers for the dead. He'd seen men die before, mostly in war, but he'd never given it a second thought. He pushed the thought out of his mind and adressed the leader of team 3, Severin. The young man turned to the captain as he saw him approach. "Done as you ordered sir. They're done up right proper." Bainbridge nodded. "Gather your men, we get off this wreck as soon as Stede is finished." As if on que, the big kiffar descended the ladder and climbed into the airlock with the rest. The all went back to their stations without a word. The ''Dhalia ''broke away from the dereclict ''barloz-''class and retreated to a safe distance. On order from the captain, the upper starboard turbolaser cannons swiveled into position and fired a single salvo into the other ship's reactor core, engulfing the hulk in a colorful explosion of ion gases and flame. Bainbridge snapped a quick salute to the burning ship, then straightened his jacket. "Set course for Zirtraan's Anchor." Category:Blog posts Category:Blog posts